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(showing condition of street before it was improved under present city administration, many hundred people 

SOMETIMES PASS ALONG THIS STREET IN A FEW DAYS.) 
















THE 


WORK OF THE PRESIDENT 

OF THE 

BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF THAT 
OFFICE IN 1902-3 


A STATEMENT OF FACTS 




PUBLISHED BY 

THE CITY CLUB OF NEW YORK 
October, 1903 









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CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION. . 

THE PRESIDENTS OF BOROUGHS UNDER THE CHARTER OF 1897 6 

POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF A BOROUGH .... 7 

THE TAMMANY ADMINISTRATION, 1898-1901.8 

Street Paving Neglected.. 

Exorbitant Prices Paid to the Asphalt Trust . . 10 

Favors to Corporations. I2 

Sidewalks and Extortion. . 3 

Bureau of Encumbrances. I4 

Sewer Department’s Neglect—Padded Pay-rolls—Foul 

Conditions . . .15 

Mal-Administration in the Department of Buildings . 17 

The Department of Public Buildings, Lighting and 
Supplies—Dilapidated and Dangerous Public 

Buildings.. . . .21 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 

IN 1902-03. ......... 25 

The Bureau of Highways.25 

The Bureau of Sewers.36 

Bureau of Public Buildings and Offices . . . . 41 

Bureau of Buildings.43 

Preparation of Contracts.46 

The Bureau of Encumbrances.46 

Street Signs . . . 47 

Miscellaneous Improvements.48 

Local Improvement Boards.49 

Local Board Meetings.49 

APPENDIX I. Organization of the Offices of the President 

of the Borough of Brooklyn .... 50 

APPENDIX II. Statistics of Repair Work done by the Bureau 

of Highways ..51 

APPENDIX III. Summary of Appropriations for the Offices of 

the President of the Borough of Brooklyn . 52 

[ 235 ] 








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INTRODUCTION 

The people of all the boroughs ar.e vitally concerned in having their 
streets well paved according to modern methods and kept in good 
condition; their sidewalks free from defects and encumbrances; their 
sewerage system extended as necessity demands, and kept in good 
order; their public buildings well cared for, and private building opera¬ 
tions conducted in compliance with the building law. 

These matters, which affect directly the health, comfort and safety 
of the community, are within the jurisdiction of the borough presidents. 
The functions of these officials and of the bureaus over which they 
preside are therefore of great importance. The manner in which these 
functions are performed is not merely a matter of local interest. The 
manner in which local public improvements are executed affects the 
entire community. Retarded improvements mean unsightly streets, un¬ 
healthful conditions, and depreciation in the value of property. Im¬ 
provements made at an extravagant cost mean the mulcting of prop¬ 
erty owners who must bear the assessments. Public improvements made 
as needed, and with honesty, intelligence, and economy add to the 
attractiveness of the locality, promote public health, save the property 
owners’ money, and enhance the value of property. 

In their local administration which has to do with these matters, 
all the boroughs are interested. But the people of the Borough of 
Brooklyn have a peculiarly strong interest in their borough administra¬ 
tion. Brooklyn has more mileage of streets than the boroughs of Man¬ 
hattan and the Bronx combined. Many years of bad or inefficient ad¬ 
ministrations reduced the street paving in Brooklyn to a condition 
perhaps as bad as could exist in any civilized city. Long after other 
cities had discarded the archaic cobble stone, administrations in Brook¬ 
lyn still used it; Such asphalt paving as was done was done at exorbi¬ 
tant prices. Some of the streets presented a motley patch-work, a 
section in cobble-stone ending abruptly in asphalt, and that as abruptly 
in granite block. There was no system or uniformity. The same 
mal-administration was evident in the failure to repair the sewers or 

[237] 


6 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


extend the sewerage system properly. This neglect, as well as reckless 
extravagance in expenditures extended down to 1902, and caused the 
people of Brooklyn to insist upon better conditions. This report, show¬ 
ing what the present administration has done to meet this demand, 
will, therefore, be of special interest to the people of the Borough of 
Brooklyn. 

THE PRESIDENTS OF BOROUGHS UNDER THE CHARTER 

OF 1897 

In the dual scheme for the administration of the city’s affairs, 
as embodied in the present charter, the president of each borough is 
invested with large powers. Under the charter of 1897, the office 
was in effect merely honorary. When the commission was drafting 
that charter it was evident that the people of the different prospective 
boroughs feared that if administrative powers were too much cen¬ 
tralized their local interests would not be sufficiently understood and 
provided for. Officials who came from one part of the city would 
not be acquainted, it was contended, with the needs of the people of 
other boroughs. The charter of 1897, accordingly, divided the city 
into five boroughs, created the office of president of the borough, and 
made provision for local boards of improvements. From these local 
boards much was expected. They were looked upon as guarantees 
that the interests of no part of the city, however remote, would be 
neglected. But while, in matters of local improvements, the five bor¬ 
oughs were theoretically independent, they did not prove so in practice. 
The practical results were unsatisfactory. The local boards had the 
power of recommendation only; all real authority was vested in the 
municipal assembly, the board of public improvements, and the board 
of estimate and apportionment. Administrative departments and bureaus 
which had to deal with local improvements, such as the departments 
of water supply, streets and highways, sewers, public buildings, lighting 
and supplies, were all concentrated in Manhattan. Boroughs, borough 
presidents, and local boards had been created to secure a measure of 
local rule, but their powers were so feeble that the borough officials 
outside of Manhattan declared that they were practically without in¬ 
itiative, and that local improvements could not be secured. Under 

[2381 



BOROUGH PRESIDENT’S POWERS 


7 


the charter of 1897 local boards had no engineers to prepare plans 
for local improvements, and there was no legal way of compelling the 
departments to furnish them with estimates or plans. The boroughs 
of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond complained that the 
municipal officials regarded the Borough of Manhattan as the City 
of New York, and that it was receiving disproportionate benefits. 

The revised charter of 1901 greatly extended the sphere of borough 
administration. It gave the presidents of boroughs actual administra¬ 
tive powers, and placed under their direct jurisdiction the machinery 
required to effect local improvements. The local boards of improve¬ 
ments were made subject only to the board of estimate and appor¬ 
tionment. 


POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF A BOROUGH. 

The administration of borough affairs is largely centred in the 
president of the borough. By virtue of his office, he is chairman of every 
local board of improvements in his borough, and has the right to vote. 
He appoints and removes at pleasure a commissioner of public works 
and a superintendent of buildings. He is a member of the board of 
estimate and apportionment. In this board the presidents of the bor¬ 
oughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn each have two votes, and the presi¬ 
dents of the other boroughs each have one vote. Thus the president 
presides over the local boards which call for improvements, appoints 
officers who are to carry out these improvements, and votes in the 
board of estimate and apportionment upon the necessary expenditures. 

The president of a borough must be a resident of that borough at 
the time of his election and throughout his term. He is elected by the 
voters of the borough when the mayor is elected, and his term is two 
years. 

The charter gives him “ cognizance and control ” of these matters: 

1. “ Regulating, grading, curbing, flagging and guttering of streets 
and of the laying of crosswalks.” 

2. “ Constructing and repairing public roads.” 

3. “ Paving, repairing, resurfacing and repairing of all streets, 
and of the relaying of all pavements removed for any cause. ” 

[ 239 ] 



8 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


4 . “ The laying pf relaying of surface railroad tracks in any 
public street or road, of the form of rail used, or character of 
foundation, and the method of construction, and of the restoration of 
the pavement or surface after the work is done.” 

5. “ The filling of sunken lots, fencing of vacant lots, digging 
down lots, and of licensing of vaults under sidewalks. ” 

6. “ The removal of encumbrances from streets.” 

7. “ The issue of permits to builders and others to use or open the 
streets,” 

8. “ The construction and maintenance of all bridges and tunnels 
which are within his borough, and which form a portion of the high¬ 
ways. Bridges which cross navigable streams are under the control 
of the bridge department. ” 

9. “ The management and maintenance of the sewer and drainage 
system of his borough and the licensing of all cisterns and cesspools. ” 

10. “ The construction, repairs, cleaning and maintenance of public 
buildings except schoolhouses, almshouses, penitentiaries, and fire and 
police stations.” 

11. “ The care and cleaning of all offices leased or occupied for 
public uses.” 

12. “ The establishment and care of public baths and public com¬ 
fort stations and of the placing of street signs.” 

THE TAMMANY ADMINISTRATION, 1898-1901 

From January 1st, 1898, to January 1st, 1902, Edward M. Grout* 
was president of the Borough of Brooklyn. Mr. Grout made the ut¬ 
most efforts to initiate public improvements, but because of the atten¬ 
uated powers of his office he could do little except protest against 
the extravagance of Mayor Van Wyck’s administration and its failure 
to give Brooklyn the public improvements urgently demanded. The 
government of the city was really centralized in a small oligarchy in 
Tammany Hall. This clique dictated where and when improvements, 
if any, should be made. At no time during the years 1898-1901 were 
the needs of Brooklyn properly considered by the city administration. 
Most of the commissioners at the head of departments knew nothing 
of the conditions in the various districts of the Borough of Brooklyn, 

[ 240 ] 



STREET PAVING NEGLECTED 


9 


and apparently did not care to know. But in applying the policy of 
raising the salaries of henchmen and creating new and superfluous posi¬ 
tions, they were quick to appreciate the fact that the Borough of Brook¬ 
lyn was under their administrative jurisdiction. 

Of the various improvements demanded by the people of the Bor¬ 
ough of Brooklyn, the proper paving and re-paving of the streets was 
one of the foremost. Under the charter of the city this work devolved 
upon the commissioner of highways. This official in 1898-1901 was 
James P. Keating, a Tammany district leader. The commissioner of 
highways had “ cognizance and control ” of:— 

“ 1. Regulating, grading, curbing, flagging and guttering of streets 
“ and public highways. 

“2. Constructing and repairing public roads. 

“3. Paving, repairing, re-surfacing and repairing of all public 
“ streets and of the relaying of all pavements removed for any cause. 

“ 4. The laying and re-laying of surface railroad tracks, of the 
“ form of rail used, or character of foundation, and the method of con- 
“ struction and of the restoration of the pavement or surface after such 
“ work. 

“ 5. The filling of sunken lots, fencing of vacant lots, digging down 
“ lots, and of licensing vaults under sidewalks. 

“ 6. Of the removal of incumbrances. 

“ 7. Of the issue of permits to builders and others to use the streets 
“ but not to open them. ” 

STREET PAVING NEGLECTED 

Before consolidation the successive common councils of Brooklyn 
had continued the practice of authorizing the laying of cobble-stone 
pavements. This style of pavement had long since been abandoned 
by progressive cities. Experience had shown that in time it became 
unsightly and dangerous. It was a noisy pavement, hard on vehicles 
and horses, and in every way a conspicuous public discomfort. Because 
of the constant necessity of making repairs, cobble-stone pavement 
was found to be the most expensive of all pavements. While false 
economy and unprogressive administration led to the general adoption 
of this antiquated style of paving, exceptions were sometimes made 

[241J 



IO 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


in response to personal or political pressure. In such cases authority 
was given to pave with granite blocks, or, in more recent years, with 
asphalt. This favoritism resulted in incongruous and often fantastic 
specimens of street paving. For an isolated block a street would have 
an asphalt pavement, other parts of it would be paved with granite 
block, and still other sections of the same street would have cobble¬ 
stone pavement. This condition had retarded Brooklyn’s growth, and 
depressed real estate values. 

During Mayor Van Wyck’s administration an attempt was made 
to satisfy the insistent demand of the people of Brooklyn that the 
street pavements should be kept in repair and that modern pave¬ 
ments should be substituted for the cobble-stone pavements. This 
attempt, however, was marked by dilatory methods and systematic 
spoliation. During the four years of Mayor Van Wyck’s administra¬ 
tion only 27.19 miles of streets in Brooklyn were paved or re-paved 
with asphalt. The progress that could have been made by an efficient 
administration is shown by the fact that in the single year 1902, 30.01 
miles of streets in that borough were paved and re-paved with asphalt 
under the present administration. 

EXORBITANT PRICES PAID TO THE ASPHALT TRUST 

Under the Tammany regime, exorbitant prices were charged for 
asphalt paving in Brooklyn. Ostensibly competition in submitting bids 
was free and open. In reality it was not. By arrangements with cer¬ 
tain powerful politicians an asphalt trust had succeeded in stifling 
competition. Against the methods of this combination an independent 
asphalt company could do nothing. If it submitted samples of its 
asphalt for official inspection, a report certifying that its product was 
not up to the required standard would be soon forthcoming. Before 
consolidation there had been a fine laboratory in Brooklyn for testing 
asphalt and cement. Tammany moved it to Manhattan, and kept it 
there. Contracts were made at a rate far above the market value of the 
work, and the work was uniformly awarded to the asphalt trust. In 
1900 and 1901 the price exacted for asphalt pavement, including the 
concrete base and the guarantee of maintainance for five years, was 
no less than the excessive price of $2.83 a square yard; and the total 

[242] 



EXORBITANT PRICES FOR ASPHALT 


11 


amount paid for this work in the four years of Mayor Van Wyck’s 
administration was $1,580,887.06. Under the present administration the 
price for the same kind of pavement has been $1.79 a square yard. 
Who got the difference of $1.04 a square yard? The disposition of 
this sum has not been definitely ascertained, but it is understood in well- 
informed circles that it was evenly divided between the asphalt trust 
and certain politicians. 

Much of this asphalt paving was done in favored districts. A poli¬ 
tician owning property found it easy to have the streets fronting his 
property paved with asphalt. In many of the poorer sections of the 
borough no attempt at improvement was made. The neglected cobble¬ 
stone pavements, filled with ridges and holes in which stagnant pools 
accumulated, were left untouched. That the money appropriated for 
street paving under the Tammany administration was used for re-pav¬ 
ing mainly such streets, and in such boroughs, as personal and political 
considerations dictated, was made clear by the testimony of Adam H. 
Leich, a member of the municipal council from the borough of Brook¬ 
lyn, before the Mazet Committee. In 1899 the municipal assembly was 
asked to vote $2,000,000. for street re-paving. Councilman Leich and 
other Brooklyn members of the municipal assembly, tried to get James 
P. Keating, commissioner of highways, to submit to the president of 
each borough a list of the streets in the borough which the commis¬ 
sioner believed should be re-paved. On July 25th, 1899, Councilman 
Leich wrote to Commissioner Keating: “ I think the representative 

“ of each district, who is elected by the people and is directly responsible 
“ to them, should be charged with the duty of determining the streets 
“ in his district that should be re-paved. As we are apparently to be 
“ denied that right, I for one am willing to vest it, to a great ex- 
“ tent at least, in the presidents of the boroughs, who likewise are 
“ elective officers directly responsible to their constituents.” 

Mr. Leich testified as follows: “ Commissioner Keating said, ‘ Coun- 
“ ‘ cilman Leich’ (I am trying to give his exact language), ‘ if I ex- 
“ ‘ pected him to make a statement to me or to any other councilman 
“ ‘ or alderman as to what money was to be spent in my district as 
“ ‘ in the borough of Brooklyn I might wait until hell freezes over. ’ ” 

r 243] 



BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


12 


Councilman Leich’s testimony was corroborated by that of David 
S. Stewart, a member of the board of aldermen from Brooklyn and 
by other Brooklyn members of the municipal assembly. 

Although the city was so palpably robbed in its asphalt paving 
contracts in 1898-1901, one improvement in the contracts for asphalt 
repairs was made in the last year of the Tammany administration. Be¬ 
fore 1901 the method was to pay the contractor a specified sum per 
square yard for the entire area of the pavement in the street, or in the 
group of streets, in which the repairs were to be made. Every yard of 
the pavement included in the contract was thus a factor in increasing 
the amount to be paid, even if no repairs were made upon that part of 
the pavement. While this method might give good results under an 
honest and efficient administration, it evidently opens the way to ex¬ 
travagance and fraud. In 1901 the method was adopted of paying the 
contractor a stated price per cubic foot for material actually used. 

This improvement was the one intelligent reform in the work of 
street paving. In all other respects every detail of street paving re¬ 
vealed incompetence, extravagance, or favoritism. Though the prin¬ 
ciple was well known that a good foundation for street pavements saves 
much futui e work and extra cost, the officials in charge of paving per¬ 
sisted in the general use of sand foundations for granite block pave¬ 
ments. The settling and shifting of those foundations soon caused the 
surface to become uneven, and the constantly recurring necessity of 
repairing and re-paving largely increased the cost of maintenance. 

FAVORS TO CORPORATIONS 

Many of the franchises for street railways contain a provision that 
the companies shall keep the street between their tracks and for two 
feet outside the tracks in permanent repair, and section 98 of the railroad 
law of the State of New York also lays this obligation upon the com¬ 
panies. If the companies refuse to do the work, the authorities, after 
giving thirty days’ notice, may make these repairs at the expense of 
the delinquent corporations. 

During the Tammany administration the Brooklyn Heights Rail¬ 
road Company was allowed, without protest or action on the part of 
the city authorities to ignore its statutory obligations. Many 

[ 2 44l 





SIDEWALKS AND EXTORTION 


13 


miles of streets were allowed to fall into a condition dangerous to the 
public. Some of these streets were re-paved by the former depart¬ 
ment of highways at the expense of the city. By 1902 the indebtedness 
of the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company for work, the expense of 
which was chargeable upon the company, had accumulated to the extent 
of over $10,000. Under Tammany no attempt was made to collect 
these arrears. 

The same official consideration was extended to the Brooklyn 
Heights Railroad Company in permitting its unused tracks to remain 
in the streets, Many of these tracks were in such bad condition as to 
interfere seriously with traffic and to prove a menace to the public. 
The City of New York is primarily responsible for damage resulting 
from a dangerous condition of its highways. No action, however, was 
taken to compel the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company to comply 
with the law. 

Corporations holding franchises for the use of the public streets 
were allowed to tear up pavements soon after they were laid. This 
practice, entailing an unnecessary waste of public funds, was not con¬ 
fined to private companies. Newly-laid pavements were often ripped 
up by order of the public officials for the laying of water mains and 
for the construction of sewers. The various departments and bureaus 
seemed to operate independently, and each without reference to the 
needs and the plans of the others. The result of this chaotic system was 
both unnecessary trouble to the public and a needless duplication of 
street paving. The residents in many of the streets complained of this 
constant disturbance. 

SIDEWALKS AND EXTORTION 

In the relaying of the sidewalks Tammany and its allies found a 
profitable field for extortion. Under the law property owners are 
primarily charged with the duty of laying sidewalks and maintaining 
them in a safe and proper condition. If a property owner neglects to do 
this, the city, through the bureau of highways, must do the necessary 
work, and charge the delinquent owner the cost. The law requires that 
the city shall make property owners keep their sidewalks in good condi¬ 
tion. If the city does not do this, it is liable in damages to any person 

[ 245 ] 



14 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


who sustains injuries from a defective sidewalk. The city is often 
mulcted heavily for these accidents. 

Of the re-laying of sidewalks the American Architect in June, 1901, 
said:— 

“ One of the latest forms of extortion consists in ‘ re-laying side- 
“ walks ■ no matter how recently the grades may have been fixed and the 
“ sidewalks laid, and paid for by the owners of the abutting estates. 
“ A party of heelers with a level may at any time make their appearance, 
“ and ‘ change the grades/ by marking some curbstones to be raised and 
“ others lowered. This involves re-laying the flagstone sidewalks, 
“ which is done at the expense of the abutting: estate. I11 some cases 
“ the officials are merciful enough simply to take up and re-lay the 
“ stones, assessing the estate merely about six times what it would 
“have cost to have the work better done by a private contractor; but 
“ in niany instances the flagstones are ‘ condemned/ taken up and car- 
“ ri ed away by the officials, and other laid in their place and also charged 
“ at a ‘ strenuous ’ price. If new stones were always put in place of 
“ old ones, there might be some slight justification for this performance, 
“but, as a matter of fact, it is said that the officials simply ‘condemn’ 
“ two sidewalks, take up the flagstones of each, and exchange them, 
“ charging both proprietors with the cost of ‘ new flagging. ’ ” * * * 

There was, however, another aspect of this practice, especially in 
the Borough of Brooklyn. It was well understood that by “ fixing ” the 
sidewalk inspectors the property owner could be guaranteed against 
“ trouble.” Many of the inspectors also attended solely to the drawing 
of their salaries, and neglected their work. The consequence was that 
in Brooklyn the sidewalks generally in both the residential and the 
business streets were in a defective and dangerous condition. In some 
neighborhoods there were no sidewalks of any kind. These facts were 
shown by the magnitude of the work of sidewalk improvement which 
had to be undertaken by the present administration. 

BUREAU OF ENCUMBRANCES 

In the administration of the bureau of encumbrances, then in the 
department of highways, business men frequently made complaints of 
gross discrimination. Those business men who secured official favors 

[246] 



SEWER DEPARTMENT’S NEGLECT 


by means well known were allowed to litter sidewalks with bales, boxes, 
and barrels at all hours, and in such a way as to make the sidewalks 
in front of their places impassible to the public. Other business men, 
who refused to contribute,” were subject to constant attacks by the 
bureau. Under corrupt administrations the power of the encumbrance 
bureau has long been recognized as a potent means of “ grafting.” 
During the four years of the Tammany administration those business 
men and store-keepers who sought to use the sidewalk, found no diffi¬ 
culty in persuading officials to overlook their violations of law. 

The bureau of encumbrances was filled with superfluous employees. 
Ten inspectors did the work, or pretended to do the work, now done 
by four inspectors. 

SEWER DEPARTMENT’S NEGLECT—PADDED PAY-ROLLS-FOUL CONDITIONS 

It was in the department of sewers, however, that extravagance 
and gross neglect were particularly notorious. 

This department was overloaded with incompetent and superfluous 
employees. The office of James Kane, commissioner of sewers, was 
crowded with employees, many of whom had nothing to do except to 
draw their salaries. One of the clerks, James H. McDermott, received 
a salary of $1,200 a year because, according to the City Record, he 
was a “ clerk with a knowledge of letter-writing.” Mr. Kane had a 
“ secretary ” who received $4,000 a year salary and a “ private 
secretary ” who drew $1,500 a y ear * 

In all the plants and repair yards of the department of sewers the 
pay-rolls were padded with the names of political hangers-on, who did 
little or no work for the salaries which they received. The repair 
yard in North Portland Avenue was poorly equipped with supplies and 
tools, but the pay-roll was not allowed to dwindle. For the care of 
four horses, one of which was of no use, six men were detailed. When 
the horses were not in the stable, the six men had nothing to do; and 
to while away the weary hours, they amused themselves at the game 
of pinocle. Of the forty-five men employed in this yard, twenty were 
superfluous. In caissons 2, 3, and 4, 63 men were on the pay-roll. Of 
this number at least 31 held sinecures. At the twenty-sixth ward 
disposal works 43 men were employed; the services of more than half 
of this force were unnecessary. 


[2471 



i 6 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


The padding of the pay-rolls caused the appropriation for the main- 
tainance of sewers to be exhausted by October, 1901, and during the last 
two months of that year the operation of the four sewage purification 
works in the Borough of Brooklyn had to be practically suspended. 
Funds which should have been applied to repairs were diverted to pay 
the salaries of political henchmen. At caisson number 4, at Sheeps- 
head Bay, the building was badly out of repair. When built, this plant 
was a fine one, but it was ruined by carelessness and neglect. 

The roof leaked in so many places that the workmen had to 

protect themselves with umbrellas. The main pump of this plant 
was almost completely wrecked because of the neglect of the engineer 
in charge. Caissons 2 and 3 were in a similar condition. The buildings 
were dilapidated. The boiler and the pumping plants were out of order, 
and no serious efforts were made either to keep them in order or to 
replace them with new equipment. Although an enormous quantity 
of coal was used at these plants every year, there were no scales for 

weighing the coal, and no tallies of the amount of coal received were 

kept. 

The twenty-sixth ward disposal works were a comparatively new 
plant, and thus were in a better condition than the other plants; but 
here, also, scales for weighing coal delivered were lacking. The pur¬ 
ifying of sewage, necessary to the health and the comfort of the com¬ 
munity, was almost suspended from July, 1900, to the incoming of 
the present administration. During the whole of that time the plant 
for the making of chlorine gas had remained dismantled. At Coney 
Island the residents complained persistently of the foul conditions of 
the sewers. In one section of East New York the residents complained 
that surface water collected and remained in a stagnant state during 
and after every heavy rainstorm. An investigation early in 1902 dis¬ 
closed the fact that the floor of the Wortman Avenue sewer was choked 
with great quantities of brick which some years before had fallen from 
the roof as a result of the caving in of a portion of the sewer. A 
contractor had been employed to repair Jthe break, but, while he had 
repaired the roof, he had not removed the material which encumbered 
the sewer. It has been ascertained that the contractor deliberately re¬ 
fused to remove this debris, in order to save expense. 

[ 248 ] 

















I 








* 










(VIEW LOOKING EAST TOWARD NORMAN AVENUE—UNDER TAMMANY THE NORMAN AVENUE SEWER DISCHARGED THROUGH AN OPEN DITCH 
INTO THIS CREEK. THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION HAS CONTRACTED FOR AN INTERCEPTING SEWER AT THIS POINT.) 















DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS 


i7 


Because of the discharge of the Norman Avenue sewer through 
an open ditch into Bushwick Creek, a condition prevailed which 
was a constant menace to the health of the people in that locality. 
Throughout the Tammany administration there were “ flooded districts” 
in Brooklyn, largely because sewers in Knickerbocker Avenue, Ham¬ 
burg Avenue, and Johnson Avenue were of insufficient size. The 
Greene Avenue relief sewer, which had been built at a cost of several 
million dollars, was supposed to be an outlet for the surface drain¬ 
age of this district; but the error had been made of reducing the diam¬ 
eter of the mouth of this sewer from 180 inches to 124 inches, thus com¬ 
pletely choking it. No effort was made in 1898-1901 to remedy this 
condition permanently. 

There are 8,300 sewer basins in the Borough of Brooklyn. The 
Brooklyn Political League charged that Commissioner Kane awarded 
the contract for cleaning these basins at an excessive rate and without 
advertising for bids. Upon evidence submitted by the Brooklyn Polit¬ 
ical League the grand jury of Kings County indicted Mr. Kane on 
February 1st, 1899. This indictment was not upheld by the courts. 
It was an undoubted fact, however, as has been disclosed by the records 
of Commissioner Kane's office, that the cleaning of the sewer basins 
was done at an exorbitant cost. Commissioner Kane had the work of 
cleaning sewer basins done under private contract. In 1901, the cost 
of cleaning each of the 9,241 sewer basins cleaned that year in Brook¬ 
lyn was $4.60. The present administration has had the work done by 
the employees of the bureau of sewers with the result that in 1902, 
14,958 sewer basins were cleaned at a cost of $1.96 a basin and in 1903 
the cost has been further reduced to $1.72 for each basin. While 
there are 8,300 sewer basins in Brooklyn, many of these basins require 
cleaning several times a year. 

MAL-ADMINISTRATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS 

In the department of buildings the same mal-administration pre¬ 
vailed. Under the charter of 1897, this department was in charge of 
three commissioners. One commissioner was appointed to have ad¬ 
ministrative jurisdiction in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, 
one in the Borough of Brooklyn, and the third in the boroughs of Queens 

[249] 




i 8 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


and Richmond. The principal office of the department was in M§.n-* 
hattan; branch offices were maintained in the other boroughs. 

The three commissioners composed the board of buildings. This 
board had power to establish general rules and regulations for the ad¬ 
ministration of the department. The commissioner for the borough 
of Brooklyn was John Guilfoyle. 

Under honest administration the power of this department could 
be of great service to the public; and in the hands of incompetent or 
corrupt men, a fertile source of blackmail and oppression. The de¬ 
partment of buildings was charged with the duty of enforcing obedi¬ 
ence to the provisions of the building law. It exercised supervision 
over all buildings within the building line. It had jurisdiction over 
the construction of tenement houses and alterations to them. It scrutin¬ 
ized plans before the permit was issued authorizing a contractor to 
commence work on a new building or on alterations to an old building. 
It supervised alterations of every kind, and continued inspection until 
the building was completed. It could order such improvements as 
the law required. It was empowered to demolish unsafe buildings. 
It inspected plumbing work, passenger and freight elevators, places of 
amusement, hotels and churches. Since January ist, 1902, the inspec¬ 
tion and regulation of tenement house construction, by the provisions 
of the revised charter of 1901, have been under the control of the tene¬ 
ment house department. 

The various branches of the department of buildings in all the bor¬ 
oughs were overrun with superfluous and unskilled employees. This was 
particularly so in the Brooklyn bureau. In this bureau two superintend¬ 
ents, each receiving a salary of $7,500 a year, did the work that one assist¬ 
ant superintendent at a salary of $4,000 a year now does. Eight stenog¬ 
raphers, the total of whose salaries amounted to $8,640 a year, were 
employed. The same work is now done by four stenographers, whose 
aggregate salaries amount to $3,600. Nine clerks, at an annual aggre¬ 
gate cost of $13,550, were employed to do the work now efficiently 
done by six clerks at an annual aggregate. Cost of $8,550. Eight mes¬ 
sengers, at an annual aggregate salary of $9,600, were employed to 
do the work now done by five messengers, whose total annual salaries 
amount to $5,250. Forty-eight building inspectors were put on the 
pay-rolls as doing the service now done efficiently by forty-two build- 

[250] 



“GRAFT” UNDER TAMMANY 


1 9 


ing inspectors, lat an annual saving to the city of $8,150. Nineteen 
plumbing inspectors receiving salaries amounting to $23,400 were on 
the pay-rolls; under the present administration fifteen plumbing inspect¬ 
ors do the same work efficiently at an annual cost to the city in salaries 
of $20,900. Of the total force of 103 employees in the Brooklyn bureau 
of the building department, twenty-two Were superfluous. 

That the bureau of the building department in Brooklyn, not less 
than in the other boroughs, was used as an instrument for “graft,” 
was indicated by testimony before the “ Mazet Committee, ” as well 
as by subsequent disclosures. The testimony of William B. Tubby, an 
architect at No. 81 Fulton street, Manhattan, of Merrill Watson, who 
was^ connected with the Expanded Metal Company, and of George S. 
Hayes, a civil engineer of No. 1123 Broadway, showed that the officials 
of the building department made continual demands and exactions. No 
fire-proofing company could get its material even tested unless it pro¬ 
duced the “proper arguments.” The Roebling Construction Company 
found a short road to official favor. It made Frank Croker, a son of 
Richard Croker, secretary, gave him stock, and paid him a salary “ for 
teaching him fire-proof construction.” It was also proved that the 
Roebling Company employed Charles E. F. McCann, nephew of Richard 
Croker, to represent it, paying him a retainer of $5,000, and that Mr. 
Watson was asked to retain Mr. McCann for the Expanded Metal Com¬ 
pany. The board of buildings promptly found that the concrete fire¬ 
proofing system of the Roebling Company met its full requirements; 
and when the commission employed to draft a new building code issued 
the first edition of this code, the announcement was printed on the cover 
that this company’s fire-proof construction was the recognized standard. 

Another illustration of the system of “ graft ” in the building de¬ 
partment was the action of the department with respect to fresh air 
inlet valves. In 1898-1901 the rules and regulations of the department 
were interpreted so as to require the installation of an automatic fresh 
air inlet valve in every new building. Only one kind of valve was 
officially approved, and, by the exclusion of competition, its market 
price was kept for four years at $10. Of this sum at least $6.25 was 
extortion. An equally good valve may now be bought, under the free 
competition fostered by the present administration, for $3.75. 

[251]- 



20 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


The supervision of buildings and the power to require such structur¬ 
al and sanitary repairs as might be required to protect health and life, 
gave to the department almost unlimited opportunities to exact black¬ 
mail from owners of buildings. 

While there was no legal proof, it was commonly understood that 
owners, under the Tammany administration, could expect lenient treat¬ 
ment in return for a “ consideration ”; and that if they refused to be 
seen, they were harassed by summary orders followed by prosecu¬ 
tion. That the departent failed in its duty to the public appears from the 
fact that early in 1902, the bureau of buildings in Brooklyn found fifty- 
six buildings so unsafe that the owners were ordered to remove the 
buildings or to make extensive repairs. In 1902 the bureau in Brooklyn 
referred to the corporation counsel for prosecution over three hundred 
unsafe building cases which should have been prosecuted in 1900 and 
1901. From 1898 to 1901 the building department made no inspection 
of the switchback railroads, aerial slides, carousals and other contrivances 
for popular amusement at Coney Island. About six million persons use 
these contrivances every year, and the slightest defect or breakage may 
cause grave accident. 

The lax or corrupt methods of inspection in 1898-1901 were, suf¬ 
ficiently indicated in the examination of Commissioner Guilfoyle before 
the tenement house commission on December 10th, 1900. The ioP 
lowing questions by the chairman of the tenement house commission, 
Mr. Robert W. De Forest, and the answers by Mr. Guilfoyle are taken 
from the official minutes of the commission: — 

Q. What have you to say with reference to the enforcement of 
the law in Brooklyn with reference to fire-escapes on tenement houses? 

A. I think they ought to be on all tenement houses. I don’t know 
of any tenement houses it is not on. 

Q. You don’t know of any tenement houses in Brooklyn not 
provided with fire-escapes? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. What do you define a tenement house to be? 

A. A three family house. 

Q. So you think the law in Brooklyn has been generally enforced 
in that regard? 


[252] 




PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC. 


21 


A. I do, yes, sir. 

Q. Now if we tell you that of six hundred and sixty-one tenement 
houses examined in Brooklyn it was found two hundred arid eighty- 
three were without fire-escapes of any kind whatsoever, would you be 
surprised at the information? 

A. Yes, sir, I would. 

Q. You don’t know one? 

A. No, sir, I do not. 

Q. Would you also be surprised to learn that of that number two 
hundred and forty-four were wooden tenement houses where the 
chances of escape in case of fire are much less than in big buildings? 

A. Yes, sir. 

* * * * * 

Q. If it is a fact that two hundred and eighty-three tenement 
houses in Brooklyn are without fire-escapes, what is your conclusion 
as to the manner in which the law is being enforced in Brooklyn? 

A. I do not think the men would be doing their duty. 

Q. It would show a very hopeless breach of duty on their part? 

Q. No question about that. 

A few minutes later Mr. Guilfoyle contradicted his previous tes¬ 
timony, and admitted that he had a list of 176 violations in Brooklyn 
of the law respecting fire-escapes on tenement houses. 

The chairman of the Commission then remarked: 

“ Our examination shows that of the six hundred and sixty-one tene- 
“ ment houses in the seventeenth ward alone — and I understand that 

“ ward represents but a portion, and not a large portion of the tenement 

“house district of your city —two hundred and eighty-three were 
“entirely without fire-escapes of any kind. *****” 

THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS, LIGHTING AND SUPPLIES DILAP¬ 
IDATED AND DANGEROUS PUBLIC BUILDINGS 

Under the charter of 1897 the care of the city’s public buildings 
was under the control of the commissioner of public buildings, lighting 
and supplies. He had administrative jurisdiction over the construction, 
cleaning, and maintainance of, and repairs to all public buildings except 
school-houses, almhouses, penitentiaries, and fire and police station 

[253] 



22 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


houses. He was also given “ cognizance and control ” of the establish¬ 
ment^ management and maintainance of public baths and public com¬ 
fort stations and of the preparation of contracts for the purchase of 
fuel, furniture, utensils, and other supplies needed for the public offices. 
The commissioner of public buildings, lighting and supplies in 1898- 
1901 was Henry S. Kearney, a Tammany politician. 

Throughout the four years of Mayor Van Wyck’s administration 
no intelligent consideration was given to Brooklyn’s needs in the matter 
of repairs to public buildings, the substitution of new borough buildings 
for antiquated buildings, or the establishment of public baths and public 
comfort stations. The Kings County Court House was in a notoriously 
bad sanitary condition. Some of the ventilating pipes were dummies, 
and the cellar was in a foul state. There was no adequate and scientific 
heating and ventilating system in this building. Although complaints 
were numerous and continuous, no effort was made to remedy these 
conditions. A portion of the Borough Hall was in a dangerous condi¬ 
tion, as was disclosed by an inspection early in 1902. The floor beams 
under the offices of the City Clerk were found bent and broken, and 
the ceiling of the offices badly cracked. The foundation walls of 
the Borough Hall were defective, and the supporting arches were loosed 
and ready to fall. The top arches and the sides and centre walls sur¬ 
rounding the boilers were defective. The braces holding the cast iron 
fronts of the boilers had become so loosened that the fronts protruded 
about six inches, and the pipe connections of the water arches to the 
boilers were the sole support of the boilers. The supposed solid mason- 
work about the boilers was merely a single thickness of brick with a 
filling of refuse and boulder stones. The brick party work and the 
division wall contiguous to the boilers were both burned through and 
on the point of crumbling. The windows of the boiler room were so 
small that in order to get coal into the basement it was necessary to 
carry it across the sidewalk and through the halls, thus causing much 
dirt and annoyance. The municipal building and the Kings County 
jail were in urgent need of repairs. The old tin roof of the municipal 
building was worn out, the water supply on the third and fourth floors 
was insufficient, and the brick work of the boilers was in poor condi¬ 
tion. In the Kings County jail the steam heating plant had been laid 
under the concrete pavement. This was an obsolete method. It made 

[ 254 ] 



NO PUBLIC BATHS ESTABLISHED 


23 


repairs to pipes very expensive, and caused frequent breaks in the 
pavement. In the four years of the Tammany administration the 
necessity of replacing this old system with a modern system did not seem 
to occur to Commissioner Kearney. The plumbing of the Kings County 
jail was also in bad condition. The city magistrate’s courts and the 
municipal courts all were in need of repairs, as was shown by the ex¬ 
tensive overhauling the present administration has had to do. 

In 1898-1901 not a single public in-door bath house or public com¬ 
fort station was built in Brooklyn. Commissioner Kearney, it is true, 
posed as an enthusiast on the subject of public baths, but he did not 
initiate any measures for their establishment. The quality of his 
enthusiasm was shown when in September, 1900, he asked the board 
of estimate and apportionment for $52,000 for the maintainance of the 
Rivington Street bath house in Manhattan for the year 1901. The board 
of estimate and apportionment allowed $35,000. On December 19th, 
1900, the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor wrote to Mayor Van Wyck: — 

“ It is the belief of the Board of Managers of this Association, 
“founded upon eight years practical knowledge of the matter, that the 
“ expenditure of any such sum as $35,000 for the maintainance of the 
“ Free Public Bath in Rivington street is unnecessary, unwarranted 
“ and prejudicial to progress in extending the public bath system.” 

The association offered, under bond, to undertake the administra¬ 
tion of the bath and'guarantee that the cost to the city should not ex¬ 
ceed. $17,500 a year. 

Commissioner Kearney finally was forced to cut his estimate for 
the year 1901 to $24,272.50. 

The department of public buildings, lighting and supplies was as 
full of superfluous employees and political favorites as were the other 
departments under Tammany. An example of the workings of the 
patronage system was the case of John J. Daly, carpenter in the depart¬ 
ment of public buildings, lighting and supplies, and the highest man 
in his class in the civil service examination. He was dismissed by 
Commissioner Kearney for “lack of work,” but his place was filled 
immediately by Richard Duncan, father-in-law of James P. Keating, 
QQmmissioner of highways, and a Tammany district leader. 

[ 255 ] 



24 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


By a provision in the charter of 1897 contracts for supplies costing 
less than $1,000. were not subject to advertising. The large amount 
of supplies needed for public buildings and the absence of restrictions 
on these small contracts furnished opportunities for jobbery. That 
these opportunities were fully taken advantage of was shown by a state¬ 
ment made public by Comptroller Coler in 1900. It was disclosed that 
Jacob A. Mittnacht, Fox Brothers and Company, and others, did a 
highly lucrative business in supplying iron and steel safes for the public 
buildings. Comptroller Coler’s statement showed that Mittnacht fur¬ 
nished many defective and second-hand safes, charging more for them 
than other dealers charged for new safes. The firm of Fox Brothers 
and Company was also favored by Commissioner Murphy of the health 
department, and their prices for articles supplied to that department 
were, as a rule, higher than that department had ever paid. The figures 
given in the appended table are from Comptroller Coler’s statement 
and show the exorbitant prices paid by Commissioner Kearney for safes 
for city offices: — 


Date of Filing and Name of 
Claimant. 

June 15, 1900, Fox Bros. & Co. ...... 

April 19, 1900, Mittnacht Eagle Safe Co. 
April 19, 1900, Mittnacht Eagle Safe Co. 
April 19, 1900, Mittnacht Eagle Safe Co. 
October 2 ; 1900, Thiel Detective Service 

Co... 

April 26, 1900, James R. Keane & Co... 
April 9, 1900, B. F. Goodrich Co...... 

April 20, 1900, James Moran. 

July 21, 1899, Mittnacht Eagle Safe Co. 
December 17, 1898, Mittnacht Eagle 

Safe Co... 

May 23, 1900, Smith, Worthington & Co. 
March 9, 1899, Mittnacht Eagle Safe Co. 
October 13, 1899, Liberman, Levy & Co. 
Various ’97 International Oil Works... 

[256] 


Amount Actual value 


claimed. 

as found. 

$590.00 

$230.00 

650.00 

200.00 

290.00, 

250.00 

503.00 

350.00 

3481.25 

2,836.25 

900.00 

690.00 

360.00 

240.00 

112.00 

76.80 

512.00 

350.00 

500.00 

425.00 

910.00 

860.00 

450.00 

375 -oo 

444-62 

284.62 

1,472.00 

1,104.00 


Over¬ 

charge. 

$360.00 

450.00 

40.00 

153-po 

645.00 

210.00 

120.00 

35-20 

162.00 

75.00 

50.00 

75.00 

160.00 

368.00 









THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION 


2 5 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 

IN 1902-03 

J. Edward Swanstrom, elected president of the Borough of Brooklyn, 
took office on January 1st, 1902. 

The provisions of the revised charter of 1901 investing the president 
of a borough with large and direct powers, went into effect on that 
date. These charter changes made necessary a reconstruction of the 
entire organization of borough administration. William C. Redfield 
was appointed commissioner of public works, and was placed in charge 
of the bureau of highways, the bureau of sewers, the bureau of public 
buildings and offices, the bureau of encumbrances and permits, and the 
office of general bookkeeper. Otto Kempner was appointed assistant 
commissioner of public works, and William M. Calder, superintendent 
of the bureau of buildings. The complex work of the various local boards 
of improvement was placed under the special charge of Justin McCarthy, 
Jr., as secretary of the borough. The organization of the offices of the 
President of the Borough of Brooklyn is shown in appendix I., page 50. 
The work of transforming Brooklyn into a wholesome and attractive 
borough was begun in earnest. 

THE BUREAU OF HIGHWAYS. 

The urgent necessity of instituting honest and progressive methods 
in the paving of the streets was at once apparent. It was clear that 
the city had been literally robbed of large sums in the awarding of the 
asphalt contracts under the previous administration. It was equally 
clear that there had been no intelligent plan in the paving of the streets. 
Many streets presented a ludicrous patch-work of asphalt, Belgian block, 
and cobble-stone. Forty-seven miles of streets which had long been 
in a dilapitated and dangerous condition had not been touched undei 
Mayor Van Wyck’s administration. Eighty-seven distinct thoroughfares 
had no modern paving. In the tenement house sections the primitive 
cobblestone pavement was the rule. These ancient pavements had not 
even been repaired. They were filled with ridges and holes which fur¬ 
nished innumerable receptacles for stagnant water and disease-breed¬ 
ing filth. 


[ 257 ] 




2 6 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


The problem of proper street paving confronting President Swan- 
strom’s administration was far greater than that in the other boroughs. 
Not only were the Brooklyn pavements in worse condition than those 
of the other boroughs, but their extent was greater. On December 31st, 
1902, Brooklyn had 566.66 miles of paved streets, — a greater total 
mileage than in the two boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx combined. 
One of the first necessary things was the re-organization of the bureau 
of highways. It was found that three superintendents, each drawing 
$2,5°° a year salary, had little to do. They were promptly dismissed, as 
were a number of other unnecessary employees. 

President Swanstrom took immediate steps to put a stop to the 
exorbitant prices charged for asphalt paving and repaving under the 
previous administration. He prepared a contract and specifications in 
such a form as to invite competition. With slight modifications this 
draft was approved by the board of estimate and apportionment. The 
effect of this action was to make competition free and open. By the 
terms of the advertisements, contracts were to be awarded to the lowest 
bona fide bidders. Bids from any responsible companies were to be 
accepted when accompanied by samples of asphalt which would meet 
the chemical requirements of the specifications. In all cases the 
guarantee period of the pavement was increased from one year to five 
years, the minimum amount of bitumen in the wearing surface was 
increased from 9 to g]/ 2 per cent., and a provision was inserted in the 
contracts under which 20 per cent, of the entire amount of the contract 
was withheld for twelve months as a special guarantee. If .the pave¬ 
ment was in good condition one year from its completion, all the money 
due the contractor was to be paid, but the bond was to continue in force 
for the Tull length of the guarantee period. It is recognized that no 
chemical test can absolutely demonstrate in advance whether a particular 
asphalt will make a perfect pavement. The demonstration of the quality 
is greatly dependent upon time and use. It is now known, however, 
that two distinct factors have a perceptible effect upon the wear of 
asphalt pavements. One of these is the presence in the streets of iron 
manhole covers. Vehicles passing over these gradually make depressions 
around the rims of the covers. The other factor is the deterioration 
of the asphalt foundations by the leakage of gas from the street mains. 

[ 258 ] 



ASPHALT PAVING 


27 


The gas decomposes and softens the foundation, and presently increas¬ 
ing depressions form on the surface. 

Until the city does away with manhole covers in the streets and 
builds subway galleries for gas mains, asphalt pavements will always 
be more or less subjected to these destructive influences, however good 
the quality of asphalt used, and however sound the foundation. Mean¬ 
while it is important that both the concrete foundation and the quality 
of asphalt shall be the best that can be obtained. To protect the city 
against the use of poor material and against slipshod work, President 
Swanstrom considered the retention for one year of the 20 per cent, of 
the entire amount of the contract a reasonable security, and to make 
the protection of the public interests doubly assured, every company 
obtaining a contract had to give a five-year bond, signed by two surety 
companies, in the sum of, approximately, one-third of the contract price. 

Still another precaution was taken by President Swanstrom to insure 
the borough’s getting the exact asphalt paving called for in the specifica¬ 
tions. Before consolidation the city of Brooklyn had a good laboratory 
for the testing of asphalt. Early in 1898 Tammany ordered this lab¬ 
oratory to be removed to Manhattan, and kept it there. President 
Swanstrom opened a new chemical and physical laboratory in Brooklyn, 
and caused complete apparatus to be installed. This laboratory is es¬ 
sential to the good paving of streets. It tests cements, asphalts, and 
other paving material submitted with the bids of contractors, and its 
staff inspects asphalt plants during the progress of the making of the 
asphalt. Many past failures in asphalt pavements have been directly 
traceable to errors in the original manufacture of the asphalt. If the 
sand which is mixed with the bitumen, as asphalt, is overheated, the 
asphalt will become too stiff. A deficiency in the percentage of bitu¬ 
men, caused by neglect to proportion the mixture well, produces a bad 
quality of asphalt. The introduction of sediment into the asphaltic 
cement by working the tank too low has a similar deteriorating effect. 
If the petroleum residuum (flux) does not completely blend with the 
asphalt, soft spots inevitably appear after the pavement has been laid. 
Failure to mix the proper proportion of flux and asphalt, or asphaltic 
cement and sand and dust, also makes the final product either too stiff 
or too soft, The importance of the work of this laboratory can readily 
be seen, 





28 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


Within a short time from taking office President Swanstrom was 
ready to proceed with the work of redeeming Brooklyn’s paving. The 
board of estimate and apportionment was, however, so continuously 
occupied during the first three months of 1902 in revising the budget 
that it did not get the opportunity to authorize the appropriation for 
asphalting until April. The engineering force of the bureau of high¬ 
ways had used the interval in preparing complete plans, and the lab¬ 
oratory had been brought to a condition of efficiency. The moment 
the appropriation was authorized the bureau was thus enabled to proceed 
without delay. 

The effect of President Swanstrom’s action in making competition 
free and open was soon evident. Contracts for asphalt paving, includ¬ 
ing the concrete base and the guarantee of maintainance for five years, 
were made at an average price of $1.79 per square yard. In 1900 and 
1901, the asphalt trust, with the assistance of certain powerful Tam¬ 
many politicians, had made the city pay $2.83 per square yard for this 
same work. The displacement of Tammany from power had broken 
up this corrupt combination; without official help the companies com¬ 
posing the asphalt trust could no longer choke off competition. When, 
however, they saw the startling difference between the bids of in¬ 
dependent companies and the price which they had extorted from the 
city, they made every effort to prevent President Swanstrom from 
executing contracts which had been awarded to the Interstate Paving 
Company, the lowest bidder. On July 3d, 1902, a temporary injunction 
was obtained from Justice Gaynor, restraining President Swanstrom 
and William C. Redfield, the commissioner of public works, from carry¬ 
ing out these contracts. It was alleged that the Interstate Paving Com¬ 
pany was not able to supply asphalt of the quality and in the quantity de¬ 
manded by the specifications, and that the execution of the contracts 
would constitute a "waste of money. The injunction was subsequently 
dissolved. James D. Schuyler, a well known consulting engineer and 
an; expert in the chemical analysis of asphalt, who was, engaged by the 
department of public works to investigate the asphalt resources of the 
Interstate Paving Company, reported that the company had abundant 
material with which to carry out its contracts, and that the asphalt was 
of the quality demanded by the specifications. 

[260] 



LARGE SAVING IN ASPHALT PAYMENTS 


29 


The great reduction forced by President Swanstrom in the price 
of asphalting has resulted in a saving to the city of more than $1,200,000. 
during 1902 and 1903. 

The lowering of the price of asphalting, combined with the energy 
and efficiency of President Swanstrom’s administration, also made it 
possible, notwithstanding the delay caused by the holding back of the 
appropriation, to contract for the asphalting of more miles of streets 
in the single year 1902 than had been asphalted during the entire four 
years of Mayor Van Wyck’s administration. In 1898-1901, inclusive, 
only 27.19 miles of streets had been asphalted in Brooklyn. In 1902, 
the asphalting of 30.01 miles was contracted for, and 22.27 miles 
were completed in that year. The total amount of contracts executed 
for asphalting from January 1st, 1898, to January 1st, 1902, was 
$1,580,877.06. In 1902, contracts were executed to the amount of 
$ I ,399,9 I 9• I 7, b ut > as has been shown, a much greater amount of work 
was done with the smaller sum under the present administration. 

In 1903, there has been no delay on the part of the board of estimate 
and apportionment in making the necessary appropriation. Hence 
asphalting work has proceeded at an unprecedented rate. From January 
1st, 1903, to August 1st, 1903, contracts for the asphalting of 65.58 
miles of streets in Brooklyn were made. In seven months in 1902 
more than two and a half times as much asphalt work in Brooklyn 
was done or contracted for as was done or contracted for in that bor¬ 
ough during the four years of Mayor Van Wyck’s administration. 

This extent of asphalting has not been done spasmodically, as was 
the hap-hazard way of previous administrations. A definite, intelligent 
system has been laid out and followed. In former years, for instance, 
the officials did not seem to be aware that noise-producing pavements 
had a seriously irritating effect upon hospital patients, or were a strain 
upon public school teachers and pupils. Upon taking office President 
Swanstrom announced that smooth pavements would be laid around 
hospitals and schools before similar work was done in other streets. 
The old barbarous cobble-stone pavements were promptly removed, and 
in 1902 asphalt pavements were laid in streets adjoining thirty-one 
schoolhouses, nine hospitals, and twenty-five churches. In many of 
the tenement house districts the cobble-stones were replaced with asphalt 
pavement. This change has been of conspicuous benefit. It is now 

[261] 



3 ° 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


easy to keep the streets clean, and disease has been noticeably reduced. 
The improvement of Third Avenue has been completed. This street 
is destined to be one of the most important thoroughfares in the borough. 
Before the present administration took office its improvement was so 
often promised, and as often deferred, that the matter became a sorry 
joke. Under President Swanstrom Third Avenue has been regulated, 
graded and paved. Fourth Avenue, between Fortieth and Sixtieth 
Streets, has been asphalted, and with the co-operation of Commissioner 
Young of the park department, has been transformed into a fine bou¬ 
levard. A series of seventy-five parks twenty feet wide, planted with 
trees and shrubs, has been laid out through the center of Fourth Avenue. 
In streets which, because of lack of system, had alternate motley 
stretches of asphalt and cobble-stone pavements, the cobble-stone has 
been displaced with asphalt. A new aspect has been given to the entire 
borough. 

The 95.59 miles of streets which have been asphalted or the asphalt¬ 
ing of which has been contracted for since January 1st, 1902, have been 
asphalted well. The vigilance of the engineers of the bureau of high¬ 
ways and of the testing laboratory has insured pavements of a superior 
character. 

The assistant engineers have constantly visited the various places 
where the work has proceeded, and their work in turn has been 
supervised on the spot by the chief engineer of highways. The inspectors 
in immediate charge of the paving work have been held to a rigid ac¬ 
count. In 1902 two of these inspectors were dismissed from the public 
service because they had permitted poor work. If any defect in the 
asphalt mixture is found upon testing in the laboratory, a delinquent 
contractor is ordered to stop work, and is not allowed to proceed until' 
he has produced the proper quality of asphalt. In one street a large 
portion of the pavement was found to contain an average of 8.67 per 
cent, of bitumen when the asphalt was analyzed by the laboratory 
chemist. As the specifications required a minimum of 9.5 per cent., 
George W. Tillson, chief engineer of the bureau of highways, ordered 
the contractor to replace this unsatisfactory with satisfactory asphalt. 
This the contractor refused to do. He contended that an analysis made 
by a reputable chemist employed by him had showed the material to be 

[262] 




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ASPHALT PAVEMENT REPAIRS 


3 i 


within the contract requirements. All payments for the asphalt were 
thereupon held back, and the contractor brought suit to compel the city 
to pay. 

Such had been the lack of efficient inspection and supervision under 
Tammany that when President Swanstrom took office many miles of 
asphalt pavement were found in a neglected or disintegrating condition. 
The repairs needed on asphalt pavements upon which the contractors’ 
guarantees had expired, were so extensive that for six months it was 
found necessary to keep four, and part of the time five, asphalt repair 
" gangs ” at work steadily. The repairs were made with great speed. 
The asphalt pavements are now in such good condition that it is neces¬ 
sary to employ only one asphalt repair “ gang ” for the work. The bureau 
of highways has acquired two sanding machines for sanding slippery 
asphalt after sleet storms. Many accidents to horses are thus prevented. 
This sanding work was done by hand before 1902, and was a slow 
operation. 

Until now the Borough of Brooklyn has been wholly dependent 
upon local contractors for asphalt repairs. But the mileage of asphalt 
pavement has become so large that, at the request of Commissioner of 
Public Works Redfield, the chief engineer of highways has presented 
a report showing it to be economical for the city to purchase and run 
its own asphalt plant for repairing streets upon which the contractors’ 
guarantees have expired. This report has been transmitted to the board 
of estimate and apportionment by the president, with a request for the 
necessary appropriation for the construction and operation of the plant. 

Under the present administration the method of laying granite 
paving on a sand foundation has been abandoned. It was an obsolete 
and expensive method. All contracts made in 1902 and 1903 have 
provided for a solid concrete foundation for all granite and asphalt 
pavements. This foundation will give to the granite pavements the 
greatest possible amount of permanence. Although this work costs 
more at the beginning, the increased cost will be more than offset by 
the fact that repairs will not be needed for many years to come, to 
say nothing of the gain to the community. 

It was decided to lay no more Belgian blocks. The Belgian blocks 
are a variation of the cubical blocks used in Europe. These cubical 

[263] 



3 2 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


blocks make a smooth and durable pavement; but the present Belgian 
blocks have more the form of truncated pyramids, and because of their 
shape it is difficult to maintain the contour of the pavement. It has 
been decided to substitute Medina sandstone blocks for the Belgian 
blocks. This stone is extensively used for pavements in Cleveland, 
Buffalo and Rochester. It wears more evenly than granite, but does 
not become as slippery, and it therefore makes a. better surface. Parts 
of High Street and South Third Street have been paved with Medina 
blocks, which have given satisfactory results. The cost of this paving 
is $3.19 a square yard as against $3.15 for the Belgian granite block 
pavement. 

The unprecedently large amount of; work done under the administra¬ 
tion of President Swanstrom is shown in the following table. The 
comparison shows the condition of Brooklyn’s street pavements as it 
was on January 1st, 1902, and as it was on August 1st, 1903: — 



Jan. 1, 1902. 

Aug. 1, 1903. 

Asphalt ..... 


132.27 miles. 

Granite. 

....119.87 

128.46 “ 

Cobble . 

....216.80 “ 

181.87 “ 

Belgian ..... 

.... 46.61 “ 

46.69 V 

Macadam .... 

.... 82.15 “ 

87.78 4, 

Brick . 

.... 5 - 3 i “ 

4-93 & 

Trap block ... 

.78 “ 

1.23 “ 

Medina ...... 


•34 " 

Wood . 


.17 “ 

Total .... 


583.74 miles. 


It will thus be seen that in nineteen months from January 1st, 1902, 
to August 1 st, 1903, over 34 miles of cobble-stone pavements were re¬ 
placed with modern pavements. 

The amount of paving work of all kinds done in the four years 
of Mayor Van Wyck’s administration and the amount done under the 
present administration is more fully shown in the following table: — 

[264] 















STREET PAVING—A CONTRAST 


33 


Amount of Paving and Repaving for which Contracts were made 
during the Periods Stated Below. 

January i to 



1898 to 1901 inclusive. 

1902. 

Aug. 1, 1903, 


4 years. 

1 year. 

7 months. 

Asphalt .... 

.27.19 miles. 

30.01 miles. 

65.58 miles. 

Granite .... 

. 6.38 “ 

8.09 “ 

10.44 “ 

Macadam .. 

. 3-23 “ 

I - 5 I “ 

U 

Trap block . 

. 1.09 “ 

•i 7 “ 

- “ 

Medina sandstone.. - “ 

.18 “ 

2.64 “ 

Wood . 

U 

.08 “ 

.66 

Cobble . 

.12 “ 

u 

-- “ 

Belgian .... 

. 2.48 “ 

— 

<c 

Total .. 

. 4049 miles. 

40.04 miles. 

79.32 miles. 


The contrast shows 40.49 miles put under contract in four years 
compared with 119.36 miles put under contract in 19 months. The ex¬ 
cess, 78.86 miles, would lay a pavement on a 30-foot roadway from 
New York to Poughkeepsie. The actual pavement put under contract, 
119.36 miles, would pave a road from Brooklyn to Shelter Island. In 
1903 as much new pavement has been provided for as the total of the 
five previous years, and in the physical execution of this work such 
speed has been attained that more pavement was being laid during the 
quarter July 1st to October 1st, 1903, than in any whole year before 1902. 

Rapidly as the bureau of highways under the present administra¬ 
tion has proceeded with the policy of removing cobble-stones and of 
replacing other kinds of pavement with asphalt, much remains to be 
done. Years of labor and liberal appropriations will be necessary to 
bring Brooklyn’s pavements up to a proper standard of excellence. In 
the mean time old pavements which were not to be immediately 
replaced with asphalt were badly in need of repairs. Fully one-half 
of the 216.80 miles of cobble-stone pavements required either to be 
entirely relaid or extensively repaired. In many cases these repairs 
could be made only by relaying the entire pavement. Many miles of 
granite pavement were in bad condition. In 1902 the repair “ gangs ” 

[265] 














34 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


relaid or renewed 47-°4 miles of cobble-stone, granite, brick and macadam 
pavements, as follows: — 

Miles. 


Granite .. 3.35 

Cobble-stone . 28.29 

Macadam . 13.39 

Brick . 2.01 


47.04 

The amount of work done by the bureau of highways from Jan¬ 
uary 1st, 1903, to September 30th, 1903, is given in Appendix II, page 51. 

Before 1902 great quantities of useless cobble-stones had been 
allowed to accumulate in the public yards, and the expense of finally 
disposing of them was considerable. The present administration has 
decided to crush these cobble-stones and use them in concrete founda¬ 
tions for pavements. This broken stone can be delivered in the street 
for use at a cost of not more than 75 cents per cubic yard. By this 
arrangement it has been found possible to lay granite block pavement 
on a concrete foundation at a very reasonable price. 

Corrupt administrations generally made the relaying of street pave¬ 
ments with granite blocks a pretext for buying large quantities of new 
granite blocks. The present administration, while relaying miles of 
granite pavement, has spent only a small amount for granite blocks. 
A sufficient supply has been obtained from Fourth Avenue where the 
old granite pavement was removed. Nothing has been expended for 
cobble-stones or Belgian blocks. A sufficient quantity of this material 
has been taken from streets where cobble-stones and Belgian block 
pavements have been replaced with asphalt. 

At the beginning of 1902 the bureau of highways owned practically 
no machinery with which to do the work of keeping the macadam and 
dirt roads in good order, and the supply of tools was inadequate for 
the increased force and proposed amount of work. In fact, the macadam 
pavement and dirt roads had never been kept in good condition. Oc¬ 
casionally, when stirred by the complaints of citizens, the officials under 
the Tammany regime had made small and temporary repairs. In the 
suburban districts of Brooklyn, which contain a population of fully 

[266] 









REMOVING SNOW ON CARS. 

(a new method begun in 1903.) 





















streetjrailroad companies 


35 


100,000 persons, there are more miles of macadam pavement than in 
the Borough of Manhattan. Tammany knew of no better method to 
keep these important thoroughfares in good condition than with shovels 
and hoes. The present administration has bought for the use of the 
bureau of highways in Brooklyn two steam rollers, two road machines 
with adjustable blades, two macadam scrapers, two street sweeping 
machines, a portable stone crushing plant, and other necessary apparatus 
and tools. The macadam sweeping and scraping machines have made 
it possible to keep clean Brooklyn’s 86 miles of macadam roads, and 
the cost has been much less than the old, sporadic, makeshift method 
of doing the work by hand. 

Under the Tammany administration the various street railroad 
companies did little to carry out their obligation to repave the spaces 
between their tracks and rails. After some months of effort, President 
Swanstrom convinced the street railway managers in Brooklyn of the 
wisdom of performing this portion of their duties to the public, with 
the result that the work of repaving in a modern way between the street 
railway tracks has progressed at a rate hitherto unknown in Brooklyn. 
Such work has been done in 1903 in Bergen Street, Reid Avenue, Fulton 
Street, Third Avenue, Gates Avenue, Nostrand Avenue,Halsey Street, 
Morgan Avenue, Marcy Avenue, and other streets. The following table 
shows the amount of paving done in a modern way on a concrete base 
in the periods stated, by the street railway companies in Brooklyn: — 

1898 to 1901, inclusive, 4 years...40,014 square yards. 

1902 and 1903, 17 months...78,708 square yards. 

On February nth, 1902, President Swanstrom notified the Brook¬ 
lyn Heights Railroad Company to remove unused tracks, and also unused 
overhead wires and poles in Humboldt Street, from Meeker Avenue 
to Grand Street, and to restore the street to its former condition. The 
company failed to respond; and on June 13th, 1902, the tracks in Hum¬ 
boldt Street were torn up under the direction of the chief engineer of 
highways, and the road was restored to its former condition by the 
repair division of that bureau. Unused car tracks have also been re¬ 
moved by order of President Swanstrom from the siding in Fifth Avenue 

[267] 





36 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


at Twenty-fifth Street; from the siding in Flushing Avenue, between 
Marcy and Nostrand Avenues; from the siding in Thirty-ninth Street, 
between Second and Third Avenues; from the siding in Nostrand 
Avenue, between Park Avenue and Floyd Street; in Bush Street; and 
in Prospect Park West, between Ninth and Fourteenth Streets. 

THE BUREAU OF SEWERS 

When, at the request of President Swanstrom, Mr. John Thatcher 
assumed the important post of superintendent of the bureau of sewers, 
he found a sad state of affairs. The sewer system of the borough was 
eight years behind time with its work. There were over 100,000 people 
without sewerage facilities, and two cess-pools to a house were common in 
many suburban sections. There had been utter neglect in cleaning the 
main trunk sewers, and both the buildings and the machinery in three of 
the sewage disposal plants (caissons numbers 1, 2 and 3 at Coney Island) 
were in bad condition — in some cases wrecks. The great sewage dis¬ 
posal works in East New York had been closed for five continuous 
weeks just after the election of 1301, and were found wholly without 
supplies necessary for operation. A break in the eight-foot Hegeman 
Avenue sewer had remained unrepaired for six months. 

The construction of new sewers has been carried on with un¬ 
precedented speed. Work is now progressing at twelve points simulta¬ 
neously on the great Foster Avenue sewer, which is the eastward projec¬ 
tion of the Bay Ridge tunnel sewer, the two together draining Bay 
Ridge, Flatbush, Windsor Terrace, and a large part of the old town 
of New Utrecht. The Bay Ridge tunnel sewer itself progresses at six 
points night and day, Sundays and holidays, and by persistent energy 
this whole great sewer will be brought into use by the early winter. 
So likewise, the great sewer to relieve the Vanderveer Park section 
has been authorized, and work has been begun and carried well on to com¬ 
pletion. The first trunk sewer for the Flatlands district has been author¬ 
ized, and the contract has been made, and the great 92nd Street tunnel 
sewer has been authorized and construction started. This last will provide 
long needed drainage facilities for Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, and 
a large portion of Bath Beach. The Windsor Terrace district will 
find relief with the construction of the East 5th Street sewer, which 
has been authorized, and for which a contract has been made. 

[268] 



SEWER CONDITIONS IMPROVED 


37 


On Bushwick Creek the health of the local community has long 
been menaced by the discharge of the Norman Avenue sewer through 
an open ditch into Bushwick Creek. After long effort, an intercepting 
sewer has been authorized, and contracted for, which will remedy the 
disgusting conditions before prevailing. 

It suffices to say that the problem of drainage has been, at every 
point, attacked with intelligence and pushed with energy, with the result 
that the major problems are solved and the whole situation is well in 
hand. 

The following table shows the amount of work on sewers done in 
the Borough of Brooklyn during the four years of Mayor Van Wyck’s 
administration, and the amount of work done in eighteen months of 
the present administration: — 


4 years. 

Amount of Contracts 
(Sewers) let since 
January i, 1898, up to 
and including De¬ 
cember 31", 1901. Bid 

price .$2,238,368.76 

Amount of Contracts 
(Sewers) completed 
since January 1, 

1898, to December 

31,1901 . $655,975.96 

Amount of Work 
(Sewers) under con¬ 
struction, December 
31, 1901 .$1,646,381.91 


18 months. 

Amount of Contracts 
(Sewers) let since 
January 1, 1902, up 
to and including July 
31, 1902. Bid 

price ..$2,671,457-53 

Amount of Contracts 
(Sewers) completed 
since January 1, 

1902, to July 31, 

1903 . $ 974 , 530-27 

Amount of Work 
(Sewers) now under 
construction, July 31, 

1903 .$ 3 , 344 , 560.53 


There are 8,300 sewer basins in Brooklyn which should be kept clean. 
The following details show the treatment these basins have had at the 
hands of the past and the present administration. 

[ 26 9 ] 









38 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


BASINS EXAMINED 


I9O2 

1901 

1900 

1899 

1898 


,6l,8l6 

40,853 

36,073 

27,426 

13,576 


1902 

1901 

1900 

1899 

1898, 


BASINS CLEANED 


14,958 

9,241 

8,760 

8,596 

6,516 


COST OF CLEANING BASINS 


1898. 

Work done by contract, at.... 


1899. 

Day labor ... 


1900. 

Day labor. 


1901. 

Day labor... 


1902. 

Day labor .. 


1903. 

Day labor. (7 months.). 



This result was attained with a force of 24 men with 18 carts, as 
compared with a force of 35 men with 32 carts in former days. 

The trunk sewers in the 26th Ward alone were found so clogged 
that over 25,000 cubic yards of solid fetid matter have been taken from 
them since January 1st, 1902, in addition to the regular flow. This rep¬ 
resents a mass greater than a five-story building a hundred feet square. 
There appears to have been no systematic cleaning of the main trunk 
sewers before 1902, for there are no records of such cleaning on the 
books of the sewer bureau beyond the record of the removal of 600 loads 
of matter in 1898. 


[270] 




















SEWER CONDITIONS IMPROVED 


39 


It was in East New York also, on Wortman Avenue, that a con¬ 
tractor some years ago, being called upon to repair a broken sewer, 
found it cheaper to leave the old sewer inside the new sewer he was 
ordered to construct. This lay for years undiscovered, damming up the 
flow of sewage for a mile or more several feet deep, until Superintendent 
Thatcher found it, and took 6,000 bricks and their accompanying masonry 
from this spot. This obstruction had caused frequent “ floods ” in the 
district, distributing sewage in streets and cellars. 

The 26th Ward disposal works have run without interruption since 
the early days of 1902, and there is no reason why they should ever be 
stopped. The following comparison between the forces now and those 
formerly employed at those works is of interest: — 


26 th ward disposal works 


Number of men employed Dec. 
3 1 , i 9 01 - 

1 Engineer in charge. 

3 Engineers. 

2 Firemen. 

4 Stokers. 

1 Foreman. 

1 Machinist. 

1 Plumber. 

1 Driver. 

28 Laborers. 

Total salaries..$30,855.03 

Average labor cost per 

month . $2,571-25 


Number of men employed Aug. 1, 
1903. 

1 Engineer in charge. 

2 Engineers. 

2 Firemen. 

2 Stokers. 

1 Machinist. 

12 Laborers. 

Total salaries.$10,073.92 

Average labor cost per 

month . $1,439.12 


The present administration found the same padding of pay-rolls 
at other disposal works. In every branch of the bureau of sewers 
superfluous employees have been dismissed. 

The break in the Hegeman Avenue sewer was repaired in the 
early spring of 1902. It was found that this was the third break at 

[271] 







40 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


this point, and no one had ever thought to put a pile foundation in the 
bed of the old stream which the sewer crossed just here. It is now 
rebuilt on piles, as it should have been built at first. In the heavy 
storm of June 29th, 1903? another point, this sewer broke, again, and 
within three weeks it was made good. 

Both buildings and machinery at the three Coney Island disposal 
works have been put in perfect repair, and any casual visitor will find 
them a credit to the city. Sludge pumps have taken the place of the 
old hand methods, which were slow and expensive, and the wrecks that 
were there in the shape of machinery, have been renewed. The fine pump 
in caisson number 4 was found in such shape that the maker of it asked 
$900 to repair it, or $1,200 for a new pump, and a good centrifugal 
pump was found standing under water. Despite the fact that there 
hung upon the wall a sign reading, “ Chlorine gas shall be generated 
every 24 hours, and the sewage and the sludge treated with the same,” 
the only apparatus for making chlorine gas was broken and had not 
been used for eighteen months. In the five weeks in which the 26th 
Ward disposal works were shut down contrary to law, their immense 
flow went out unpurified on to the oyster beds in Jamaica Bay, while 
at the same time the purifying apparatus in caisson number 4, at another 
point on the same bay and near oyster beds, was a useless wreck and 
idle also for months. The following table shows the changes in the 
force in the three sewage disposal works at Coney Island: — 

December 31, 1901. 

6 Engineers. 

8 Firemen. 

1 Watchman. 


3 Foremen. 


August 1, 1903. 


1 Assistant Foreman. 


6 Engineers. 
9 Firemen. 

1 Foreman. 
11 Laborers. 


1 Carpenter. 
1 Driver. 


44 Laborers. 
Total salaries 


$36,291.50 Total salaries .: 

Average labor cost per 
$3,024.29 month . 

[272j 


$ 14 , 556.47 


Average labor cost per 
month ..... 


$2,079.50 








PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ETC. 


41 


For years there have been “ flooded districts ” in Brooklyn, largely 
because sewers in Knickerbocker Avenue, Hamburg Avenue, and John¬ 
son Avenue were of insufficient size. To relieve them by diverting 
the surface drainage of 1,062 acres, the great Greene Avenue relief 
sewer was built several years ago at a cost of some millions of dollars. 
To it, along its course, was taken the surface drainage of the district 
through which it passed. But this great sewer was choked by con¬ 
tracting its diameter at its mouth from 180 inches to 124 inches. The 
effect of this was to reduce its delivering capacity below its carrying 
capacity by an amount equal to the surface drainage of 1,061 acres, 
so that it was choked off at its outlet by exactly the amount of the 
relief which it was supposed to afford to the insufficient sewers at its 
upper, end. This continued to be the case throughout the former ad¬ 
ministration. Early in 1902 action was begun to remedy the difficulty, 
but was delayed by the many technicalities involved until the storm 
of June 29th, 1903, brought the matter to a focus. Five relief sewers 
have been authorized; three are under contract, contracts for the two 
others will soon be made, and with the construction of these the entire 
flood problem in heavy rains will be solved. , 

Coney Island has never had surface drainage until this fall. The 
pumps at caisson number 2 were insufficient to carry both the dry 
weather flow and the surface water in time of storm. Superintendent 
Thatcher saved the cost of an entire additional system of relief sewers 
to the people of Coney Island by building a by-pass around caisson 
number 2, so that the regular sewers could be used for storm water, 
which in flood times is diverted around the caisson without entering 
its tanks. This makes it possible to build sewer basins for surface water 
on Surf Avenue, and sixty-two of them are now being built there. 


BUREAU OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND OFFICES 


In the bureau of public buildings and offices, a similar record of 
progress appears. There were no indoor all-the-year public baths in 
Brooklyn when President Swanstrom assumed office. Five have now 

[273] 



42 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


been authorized. Three are under construction, and the plans for a 
fourth have been approved, and the contract was advertised in September, 
I 9 ° 3 - Plans for the fifth are pending before the municipal art commis¬ 
sion. These baths are situated as follows: — 

Hicks Street (South Brooklyn)—Nearly complete. 

Pitkin Avenue (Brownsville)—Nearly complete. 

Montrose Avenue (Williamsburg)—Building. 

Huron Street (Greenpoint) —Contract made. 

Bridge Street (Navy Yard District)—Plans approved. 

The approximate cost of these five baths will be $405,661.30. Each 
bath will have a complete equipment of showers and tubs, for both 
men and women; four of them will contain each 90 showers and 
6 tub-baths; the fifth, Hicks Street, will contain 56 showers and 4 tub- 
baths. 

There have been no public comfort stations in Brooklyn. At the 
request of President Swanstrom, six of these have been authorized, 
and they are all now building. They are situated as follows: — 
Broadway and Lorimer Street, 

Pulaski Street and Broadway, 

East New York and Liberty Avenues, 

Manhattan and Greenpoint Avenues, 

Hamilton Avenue and Richards Street, 

Fulton and Joralemon Streets. 

The total cost of these will approximate $128,000. 

In 1902 a part of the Borough Hall was found to be in a dangerous 
condition, the floor beams being bent and broken. This has been made 
good, and an unused portion of the building has been adapted to the 
use of the borough president, while the upper story has been altered to 
receive the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the Second 
Judicial Department. 

The sanitary conditions in the Kings County Court House were 
found shocking. Some of the ventilating pipes were dummies, and 
the condition of the cellar was a constant threat to the health of the 
occupants and users of the building. A thorough and scientific plan 
for the reconstruction of the heating and ventilating system of this 
building has been prepared, and the contract is about to be executed. 

[274J 




NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDING PLANNED 


43 


The reconstruction and enlargement of the Kings County Hall 
of Records has been put under contract, and the work carried far to 
completion, the changes to cost approximately $500,000. 

The various city departments of Brooklyn have been scattered in 
several buildings, costing the city much for rent, and some of the de¬ 
partments have been divided among several buildings, causing great 
inconvenience in operation. On the motion of President Swanstrom, 
the board of estimate and apportionment has authorized him to pro¬ 
ceed with the plans for a new municipal building to be built in Murphy 
Park, owned by the city, in which will be concentrated, in adequate and 
convenient quarters, all the city departments in Brooklyn. This will 
at once cut off the expense for rent, which will more than pay the 
interest on the cost of the building, and will permit the economical work¬ 
ing of the departments in due relation to one another. 

The city has long had property in Gates Avenue, near Marcy 
Avenue, unused, and the Sixth District City Magistrate’s Court and 
the Second District Municipal Court, in the same district, have been 
situated in rented quarters which were both inconvenient and unde¬ 
sirable. Through the efforts of President Swanstrom, an appropriation 
of $50,000 has been made, and the plans for a new court house in Gates 
Avenue are now before the municipal art commission, and a contract 
will be promptly made for its construction. 

The bureau of public buildings and offices does the buying for 
the entire department, outside of the regularly advertised contracts. 
Under instructions from Commissioner of Public Works Redfield, the 
department has made it a rule to require competitive bids for all orders, 
even small ones, although not required by law to do so. The result 
has been a saving of from 25 to 400 per cent. Any reputable mer¬ 
chant is afforded an opportunity to sell his goods to the city, and 
any who desire to file their names with the department are afforded an 
opportunity to do so. In the annual report of Superintendent Helmle 
appears a full list of the merchants from whom goods have been bought, 
together with the nature of -the supplies purchased and their cost. 
It°has been the effort of President Swanstrom to have every matter 
of this kind as open and clear as possible. 


[275] 



44 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


BUREAU OF BUILDINGS 

1 he bureau of building's has supervision over all buildings within the 
building line, from the time of the filing of architects’ plans until the 
buildings are completed. As the bureau is responsible for the safe con¬ 
dition of about 150,000 buildings, and is particularly charged with the 
care of places of public amusement, schools, hotels, churches, etc., the 
importance of its efficient and non-political management is clear. Su¬ 
perintendent Calder has endeavored to construe the law liberally, rather 
than to annoy and hamper the great building industry by petty and 
unreasonable restrictions. 

During the last summer, for the first time in Brooklyn’s history, 
the machinery and equipment of all contrivances used at Coney Island 
for the conveyance of passengers, such as switchback railways, aerial 
slides, carousels, etc., were carefully inspected. The thoroughness of 
this new work, is shown by the fact that, although about 6,000,000 
persons intrusted themselves to such mechanical contrivances, there was 
only one fatal accident, and that occurred before the device had re¬ 
ceived the approval of this department. 

The operations of this bureau are far greater in number than those 
of the department of buildings in Manhattan and The Bronx. This is 
shown by the following table: — 


Manhattan. 22.00 square miles. 859 1,130 

The Bronx. 40.50 “ « 882 336 

Brookl 7 n . 77-50 “ “ 3,173 2,569 


During the Tammany administration the rules and regulations of 
the department of buildings were interpreted so as to require the installa¬ 
tion of an automatic fresh air inlet valve in every new building. Only 
one such valve was officially approved, and its market price, therefore, 
was kept for four years, by the exclusion of competition, at the excessive 
figure of $10 each. In January of last year two additional air valves 
were approved by the Bureau of Buildings, with the result that the 
original appliance can now be purchased by contractors for $3.75. 

A comparison of the pay-rolls for 1901 and 1902 shows the saving 
effected in this bureau under the present administration: — 

[ 276 ] 







SAVING IN SALARIES 


45 


Comparative Statement of Number of Employees and Salaries Paid in 
the Bureau of Buildings, as per Pay-rolls of December, 1901, and 


December, 1902 — 


. 


December, 1901. 


December , 1902. 


1 Commissioner ...... 

.. $7,000 

1 Superintendent . 

. $5,000 

2 Superintendents .... 

. . 7,500 

1 Asst. Superintendent .. 

. 4,000 

1 Chief Clerk . 

. . 3,000 

1 Chief Clerk. 

. 2,400 

1 Secretary . 

. • 2,500 

1 Secretary . 

, . 2,000 

8 Stenographers . 

.. 8,640 

4 Stenographers ....... 

. 3,600 

1 Telephone Operator 

750 



2 Engineers . 

• • 4,300 

2 Engineers . 

. 4,500 

9 Clerks . 

•• 13,550 

6 Clerks . 

. • 8,550 

8 Messengers . 


5 Messengers ... 

• 5,250 

3 Elevator Inspectors . 

.. 3,900 

3 Elevator Inspectors ... 

. 3,900 

48 Building Inspectors . 

.. 68,250 

42 Building “ 

. 60,100 

19 Plumbing “ 

.. 23,400 

15 Plumbing “ 

. 20,900 

103 

$I 52 , 39 0 

81 

$120,200 


With this reduced force the department supervised in 1902 the con¬ 
struction of buildings involving an expenditure of nearly $2,000,000 
more than the total cost of similar work in the preceding year. 

The amount spent for contingent expenses, including fares, postage, 
removal of unsafe buildings, etc., during the year 1901 was $7,623.59, 
and during the year 1902, $3,577.88. 

The work of this bureau has been performed during the past year 
with a saving of 23 per cent, in salaries and 53 per cent, in contingent 
expenses as compared with 1901. 

This efficient work has continued on even a greater scale during 
the year 1903. Hardly any enactment has been of such peculiar benefit 
to the builders and contractors of Brooklyn and to a large part of the 
local public as the recent changes in the tenement house law, brought 
about in 1903 by President Swanstrom, with the co-operation of Mr. 
Calder, the superintendent of buildings. These changes were not a 
weakening of the law, but modified its provisions so as to adapt them 
to the local conditions in Brooklyn, and provided benefits which had 

[ 277 ] 





















46 


BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


not before been available to the constructors and the users of buildings 
covered by the act. The result has been a remarkable increase in the 
number of buildings of this character constructed since the modified 
law went into effect. In 1902, 113 permits for the erection of 224 tene¬ 
ment houses, to cost $2,101,200., were issued. In the first seVen months 
of 1903, 156 permits for the erection of 285 tenement houses, to cost 
$2,535,800., were issued. 

PREPARATION OF CONTRACTS 

In the office of Assistant Commissioner of Public Works Kempner 
are received all bids for advertised contracts, and the contracts them¬ 
selves are prepared and recorded. The record shows the completion of 
495 contracts in 451 days, giving something over one new contract daily 
for over a year and a half. 

THE BUREAU OF ENCUMBRANCES 

This bureau was found crowded with superfluous employees. Early 
in 1902 one of the inspectors of encumbrances resigned, and his place 
was not filled. In March, 1902, two inspectors were discharged because 
their services were not necessary, and in December, 1902, three more 
inspectors were discharged for the same reason. Four inspectors now 
do efficiently the work for which under the Tammany administration 
a force of ten inspectors was employed. 

Under the present administration it has been the policy of the bureau 
of encumbrances to recognize the fact that a blind enforcement of the 
law would be an obvious hardship to many business men who are forced 
by absolute lack of other facilities to use the sidewalk temporarily for 
the purpose of receiving or sending out merchandise. To avoid ex¬ 
treme action on the part of the inspectors the following written instruc¬ 
tions were given on March 6th, 1902: — 

“ It is of special importance * * * to be tactful and considerate, 

“ to avoid as far as possible all arbitrary and imperative methods. 
“ Your inspectors should be informed that every citizen is entitled to 
“ courtesy, and that in many cases where obstructions exist there 
“ is undoubtedly no deliberate intention of breaking the law, but mere- 

[ 278 ] 



ENCUMBRANCES—STREET SIGNS 


47 


“ly conformity with a custom that has grown up so long, that it has 
“ created in many minds the force of a right. Citizens will obey, the 
“ law when it is impartially enforced and when it is courteously done.” 

The borough was divided into four inspection districts, and the 
following instructions were issued: — 

“ That there may be no question of favoritism, an Inspector will 
be allotted to each district for one month, at the end of which time 
he will be transferred to another district for a similar period, but not 
in any regular order. These transfers will be made by the Assistant 
Commissioner of Public Works.” 

Under the present administration no inspector has the power to 
make or order seizures of any kind. These are only made after both 
oral and written notice to the obstructor, and then only upon writ¬ 
ten order signed by the superintendent of the bureau. Recognizing 
the serious inconvienence to local merchants that would be caused by 
the abrupt removal of advertising and other matter placed sometimes 
temporarily, and always without purpose to offend, upon the side¬ 
walks, the bureau has been content to ask that so far as possible these 
be kept within the stoop line; where this has been done no further ac¬ 
tion of any kind has followed. Where the law has been flagrantly and 
continuously violated the encumbrances have been summarily removed. 
But owners of encumbrances which are dangerous or annoying to pedes¬ 
trians are requested, both orally and in writing, to remove such obstruc¬ 
tions themselves. As a result of this about 6,000 obstructions have been 
removed by the owners since January 1st, 1902. 

STREET SIGNS 

The close of the previous administration left Brooklyn in great 
need of street signs. Over 5,300 new enameled blue and white signs 
have been put up all over the borough, and 3,000 red and white glass 
signs have been ordered for the standard square and round gas lamps. 
In addition, the principal thoroughfares have been ornamented with 
322 gas and 250 electric illuminated signs of a design approved by the 
Municipal Art Commission. There have thus been added about 9,000 
new signs, and the borough for the first time is well equipped in this 
respect. 


[279] 




BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS 

After a careful study of prevailing conditions in South Brooklyn 
the borough president on July 27th, 1903, appeared before the commis¬ 
sioners of the Sinking Fund to urge the operation by the--city of the 
39th Street Ferry as a municipal enterprise, pointing out the important 
relations which this ferry and the local conditions at its Brooklyn 
terminal bore to the problem of preserving intact the commerce of the 
port of New York. 

The proposed construction of the bridge across the East River 
at or near Hell Gate connecting the trunk railways of the main land 
with the Long Island Railroad will eventually make that section of 
the Long Island Railroad passing for about ten miles through the 
borough of Brooklyn from-a point near Evergreen Cemetery to New 
York Bay at Bay Ridge, with a branch extending from the main 
line to Manhattan Beach, a portion of the main through railway of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to carry a heavy railway freight 
traffic from the north and east to the south and west. 

Foreseeing that it was imperative to take promptly in hand the 
problem of grade crossings along this line, President Swanstrom pre¬ 
pared a bill which became law, to create a grade crossing commission 
to take in charge the removal of all the grade crossings upon that part 
of the Long Island Railroad mentioned, and also along the Brighton 
Beach division of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company’s lines. This 
commission has organized and begun its labors. The borough is thus 
saved from a new and worse Atlantic Avenue obstruction, cutting the 
borough in half. 

The bill passed by the legislature to provide for the repaving of 
Atlantic Avenue after the Atlantic Avenue improvement is completed, 
failed to receive the approval of the mayor. But President Swanstrom 
took the matter up, and plans for the necessary repaving in those por¬ 
tions of Atlantic Avenue where the railroad improvements have been 
made, were submitted to the mayor. They have been approved by him, 
and will be carried out after the board of estimate and apportionment 
have provided the necessary funds. 

A feature of the present borough administration is the bureau of 
complaints in charge of Mr. James A. Rooney, whose duty it is to receive 

[ 280 ] 



LOCAL IMPROVEMENT BOARDS 


49 


the complaints or inquiries of citizens, refer them to the proper depart¬ 
ment for answer, and so far as possible remove the cause of complaint 
if any exist. In many cases this bureau has found it possible to remove 
the causes of complaint or to satisfy the person complaining without any 
formal action on the part of the borough authorities. The administration 
of the bureau has been entirely successful. 

LOCAL IMPROVEMENT BOARDS 

A conspicuous feature in the administration of President Swan- 
strom is found in the work done by the local improvement boards, 
which offers a striking comparison with that of the previous four 
years. The record is as follows: — 

LOCAL BOARD MEETINGS 

1898 to 1901 inclusive. 4 years...209 meetings. 

1898 to 1901 inclusive. 4 years.L74° resolutions passed. 

January 1, 1902, to July 31, 1903, 18 months.. 149 meetings. 

January 1,1902, to July 31, 1903, 18 months. .2,363 resolutions passed. 

It will be noted that there are 60 less meetings but 623 more im¬ 
provements were initiated, a striking evidence of the confidence of the 
people in the present administration, for all these improvements are 
on petition of citizens. It should be said, however, that the amendments 
to the charter which went into effect January 1st, 1902, gave to the 
local boards much more initiative and power than they had enjoyed 
during the preceding four years. 


[281] 






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‘‘ r ^cvi-v? 







5 ° 

Appendix I 

ORGANIZATION OF THE OFFICES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


NAME. 

NATURE OF POSITION OR SERVICE. 

ENTRANCE 

INTO SERVICE. 

CESSATION 

OF SERVICE. 

YEARLY 

SALARY. 

TERM. 

HOW APPOINTED. 

J. EDWARD SWANS'l'ROM. 

President of the Borough of Brooklyn. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


$7,500 

2 years. 


TUSTiN McCarthy, Jr. 

Secretary. 

Dec. 1, 1901. 


4,000 

Pleasure of President. 


JOCELYN JOHNSTONE. 

Private Secretary. 

June 9, 1902. 


2,500 

4 4 *4 


[AMES A. ROONEY. 

Supervisor of Complaints. 

Aug. 1, 1902. 


2,550 

Classified Service. 


WILLIAM CHAMBERS. 

General Bookkeeper. 

March 1, 1894. 


3,000 

4 4 4 4 



OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIO 

NER OF PUBLIC 

WORKS. 




WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. 

Commissioner of Public Works. 

Jan. x, 1902. 


6,000 

Pleasure of President. 


OTTO KEMPNER. 

Assistant Commissioner. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


5,000 

4 4 4 4 


ALFRED J. AUBREY. 

Secretary to Commissioner. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


2,500 

4 4 4 4 



TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISION— 

BUREAU OF HI 

GH WAYS. 




GEORGE J. BISCHOF. 

Assistant Engineer in Charge. 

Dec. 7, 1891. 


3,000 

Classified Service. 



BUREAU OF 

HIGHWAYS. 





GEORGE W. TILLSON. 

Chief Engineer. 

April 1, 1895. 


5,000 

4 4 4 4 


E. J. FORT. 

Assistant Engineer. 

(( 4 4 

Aug. 5, 1895. 


3,000 

*4 .4 


C. D. POLLOCK. 

March 19, 1902. 


3,000 

4 » 4 4 


JOSEPH STRACHAN. 

(4 4 4 

Nov. 10, 1902. 


3,000 

4 4 4 4 



BUREAU OFINCUMBRA 

NCES AND PER 

MITS. 




H. W. VALENTINE. 

Complaint Clerk. 

March 3, 1899. 


1,500 

.. 


THOMAS F. CARROLI. 

Permit Clerk. 

May 15, 1900. 


1,500 

4 4 4 4 


CHARLES J. CASSIDY. 

Inspector in Charge of Incumbrances. 

Aug. 14, 1899. 


1,500 

.4 44 



BUREAU OF PUBLIC BU 

ILDINGS AND O 

FFICES. 




FRANK J. HELMLE. 

Superintendent of Public Buildings and Offices. 

Jan. 5, 1902. 


5,000 


Borough President 

E. S. WHITE. 

Assistant Engineer. 

Nov. 4, 1877. 


2,850 

4 4 4 4 


WILLIAM W. RICHARDS. 

Secretary and Chief Clerk. 

Oct. 6, 1898. 


2,550 

4 4 4 4 


ABRAHAM W. BLOCK. 

Superintendent Public Baths and Comfort Stations. 

Oct. 22, 1900. 


2,550 

4 4 4 4 



BUREAU OF 

BUILDINGS. 





WILLIAM M. CALDER. 

Superintendent. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


5,000 


Borough President 

THOMAS BENNETT. 

Assistant Superintendent. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


4,000 


4 4 4 4 

THOMAS J. GEREHART. 

Secretary to Superintendent. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


2,000 


Supt. of Buildings 

JAMES J. BYRNE. 

Chief Clerk. 

April 12, 1898. 


2,400 


“ “ 


BUREAU OF 

SEWERS. 





JOHN THATCHER. 

Superintendent of Sewers. 

Jan. 1, 1902. 


5,ooo 


Borough President 

MATTHEW J. KENNEDY. 

Superintendent. 

Feb. 9, 1898. 


1,950 


Classified Service. 

THOMAS J. McGEE. 

Assistant Superintendent. 

Feb. 9, 1898. 


1,800 


4 4 4 4 

JAMES J. DILLON. 

Secretary. 

March 5, 189S. 


1,800 


4 4 4 4 

HENRY R. ASSERSON. 

Chief Engineer. 

June 1, 1886. 


5,000 



DAVID BROWER. 

Assistant Engineer. 

March 1, 1861. 


4,000 




[282] 



























































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5i 

APPENDIX II 

STATISTICS OF REPAIP. WORK DONE BY THE BUREAU 
OF HIGHWAYS 

The amount of repair work done by the Bureau of Highways 
from January ist, 1903, to September 30th, 1903, was as follows: 


Cobble pavement. 86,465 sq. yds. 

Granite block pavement. ... . 83,512 44 “ 

Belgian “ 44 . 16,015 “ “ 

Brick pavement. 733 “ 44 

Total. 186,725 44 44 

29,612 lin. ft. curb reset. 


3,426 4 4 4 4 gutter stone relaid. 

20,759 sq. ft. bridge stone laid and relaid. 
20,916 4 4 4 4 flagging relaid. 

15,904 lin. ft. curb dressed and jointed. 

5,526 cu. yds. stone crushed. 

26,232 sq. yds. concrete mixed and laid. 

3,742 dangerous holes repaired and made safe. 


3,004 complaints received. 

3,114 defects remedied. 

Macadam roadway resurfaced.sq. yds. 43,437 

4 4 4 4 repaired. 4 4 4 4 43,034 

4 4 4 4 cleaned.miles 35.8 

Dirt roadway repaired. 44 25.9 

Gutters made and cleaned. 44 116.9 

Cesspools cleaned. 138 

44 built . .. 9 

Drain pipe laid.lin. ft. 215 

Sidewalks graded.sq.ft. 33,696 

Repairs to connections in macadam, sq. yds. 721 
Ashes unloaded and spread upon Shell Road 

and Neptune Avenue.cu. yds. 2,595 

Sprinkling...hours 7,992 

Miles of macadam sprinkled daily. 30 

Bulkhead, Emmons Avenue, repaired, lin.ft. 2,500 

Wooden culverts repaired. 9 

The record of street signs erected during the same time is as follows: 

Enameled signs. 5,075 

Gas illuminated signs. 324 

Electric illuminated signs. 240 

Plain glass signs for lamps. 3,000 

Total. 8,639 

[283] 























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52 

Appendix III 

SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE OFFICES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 


TITLE OF APPROPRIATION. 

APPROPRIATION FOR 
1903 ALLOWED BY 
BOARD OF ESTIMATE 

AND APPORTIONMENT. 
OCT, 29TH, I902. 

TRANSFERS BY BOARD OF 

ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT. 

TOTAL 

APPROPRIATION 

FOR I9O3. 

AMOUNT ASKED 
FOR THE YEAR I904. 

INCREASE. 

DECREASE. 



Dr. 

Cr. 





Salaries—" General Administration” . 

$ 47,180 00 



$ 47,180 00 

$ 52,550 00 

$ 5,370 00 


Supplies and Contingencies. 

2,500 OO 



2,500 OO 

2,500 OO 



TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU. 








Salaries and Supplies. 

53,944 00 



53,944 00 

62,369 00 

8,425 00 


BUREAU OF HIGHWAYS. 








Salaries. 

51,650 OO 



51,650 00 

78,350 00 

26,700 00 


Labor, Maintenance and Supplies. 

347,944 25 


$38,000 00 

385,944 25 

601,850 00 

215,905 75 


Supplies and Contingencies. 

1,500 OO 



1,500 OO 

4,000 00 

2,500 OO 


Maintenance of Bridges . 

2,000 OO 

$ 2,000 00 






BUREAU OF SEWERS. 








Salaries . 

81,812 75 



81,812 75 

96, 129 75 

14,317 OO 


Sewers Repairing and Cleaning . 








Payrolls and Supplies. 

63,775 25 

10.000 00 


53,775 25 

65,296 25 

11,521 OO 


Contracts at Public Letting . 

20,000 OO 



20,000 OO 

20,000 00 



Supporting Tracks of Long Island . 








R. R. over Trunk Sewers. 





17,500 00 

17,500 OO 


31st Ward Sewerage Districts 1 and 3. 

35,726 75 



35,726 75 

36,43100 

704 25 


30th Ward Bath Beach District . 

4,303 75 



4,303 75 

4,303 75 



26th Ward Disposal Works . 

30,222 50 



30,222 50 

30,222 50 



Dredging Sewer Outlets . 

10,400 OO 



10,400 OO 

10,400 00 



Supplies and Contingencies. 

2,000 OO 



2,000 OO 

2,000 00 



Horses, Horsekeeping and Supplies. 

1,920 OO 



1,920 OO 

2,400 00 

480 00 


BUREAU OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND OFFICES. 








Salaries and Wages.. 

138,691 00 



138,691 00 

215,313 50 

76,622 50 


Supplies and Repairs. 

105,500 OO 

20,000 OO 


85,500 00 

149,750 00 

64,250 00 


Supplies and Contingencies. 

1,000 00 



1,000 00 

1,000 00 



BUREAU OF INCUMBRANCES AND PERMITS. 








Salaries. 

17,940 00 



17,940 00 

16,500 00 


$1,440 00 

Removal of Incumbrances. 

8,000 00 

6,000 00 


2,000 OO 

8,000 00 

6,000 00 


BUREAU OF BUILDINGS. 








Salaries. 

130,250 OO 



130,2 50 OO 

144,600 00 

14,350 00 


Contingencies and Emergencies. 

6,000 00 



6,000 00 

6,000 00 



TOTALS. 

1,164,260 25 

38,000 00 

38,000 00 

1,164,260 25 

1,627,465 75 

a 464,645 50 

1,440 OO 


RECAPITULATION. 


Total appropriations for 1903.$1,164,260 25 

Total appropriations asked for the year 1904. 1,627,465 75 

Increase. $463,205 50 


[284] 

























































DEC' 5 1904 


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